I no longer feel sorry for the McCanns

[chirpychirpy]

Kate & Gerry McCann appeared at the Leveson Inquiry today to state that media coverage hindered the search for their missing daughter Madeleine. Lots of people go missing every day, and the cases that receive any publicity are greatly assisted by the media spreading the word. Madeleine's disappearance received global coverage, as a result of which only people in remote areas of the World will have been unaware of the case. That kind of free publicity is beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Sure, not all of it was positive, but that was largely because some of the McCanns' decisions were dubious at best. Strikes me the McCanns should show immense gratitude to the media rather than this horrible bitterness. What do you think?

[ummmm]

It happens. Sad, but true.

I don't believe for a second the parents were being neglectful. They threw too much caution to the wind.

[pastafreak]

This thread is supposedly about the OP's feeling that the McCanns are ungrateful to the press....NOT about what the McCanns did or didn't do over 4 years ago. It's silly to rehash that over and over again.
I used to leave my daughter up in her bedroom while her dad and I gardened-at 8-9pm in the evenings...we had a VERY long garden. But parents are trusting in a lot of situations and in different environments....we've all been there.

[Teddy_boy]

6 nights in a row ,apparently.
http://www.madeleinef...uk/madeleineslaw.html

[pastafreak]

> They have however received an excessive amount of publicity compared to many parents who have lost children through no fault of their own , which the mccanns cannot say<

ahhh...but they have sought that publicity as a means to find their daughter. If any other parent did the same they would be praised, but as they are who they are-they are damned no matter what they do.

[sara3]

me, ummmm? I saw a toddler on the brow of a hill, managed to stop, picked up the child and discovered a man on the other side of the hill holding the twin toddler. it was surreal! they had got out of a back garden.

and I stopped for another toddler locally, also in the middle of the road. the mother had gone out and the father had left the front door open. she got home as my sister and I were tearing strips off him, and left her to finish the job.

[chrissa1]

I certainly feel sorry for the McCanns. We used to leave our two, now 32 & 28 in our hotel room while we were downstairs at Dinner Dances. The phone was left off the hook as a "babysitter" and we took it in turns to go up and check on them. Although in the same building, we were probably further away from them than the McCanns were from their children. It was regularly done in the 80's.

[ummmm]

My son could climb up and open the yale lock to the front door when it shouldn't have been physically possible.

[Teddy_boy]

I doubt the truth will ever be known.We can only hope madeline is well , wherever she may be.

[sara3]

and.. everyone has seen "lost" kids crying in the supermarket, street, shopping centre, etc..

that doesn't mean their parents deserve to lose them and be blamed to eternity.

where is your humanity?

[Carakeel]

People do not have to like the McCanns, nor the way in which they dealt with their daughter or the situation. But really, you do have to have compassion for anyone who has lost a child or has had their child abducted and is unable to have closure or any kind! Everyone makes mistakes in life that they regret afterwards and I am sure the McCanns have a fair few they feel bad about. Especially when under pressure, it is so easy to make mistakes and misjudgements. In a similar situation, nearly everyone would do everything in their power to find their child, as the McCanns seem to have done. They may not have gone about it in a way that is acceptable to everyone, but given what they were going through ... None of us can guarantee we would not have done the same. As a mother who has herself lost a child (however through cancer), I may not like them or totally trust them as people, but I do feel for them as parents and I do understand their wish never to give up! As for the media, I can also understand that they will be grateful to some journalists and not to others, due to the way in which they reported. So what is the problem?

[annadomino]

Losing your child (temporarily) in the middle of Woolies, on a saturday afternoon is traumatic enough, can't imagine a permanent loss.

[RATTER15]

My Son was about 5 when late one night when we heard the front door close, I checked around and no one had come in, on assuming I was mistaken I looked out the front window to see my son walking up the road in his pj's in almost total darkness, I rushed out and brought him back, he was still fast asleep when I put him back in bed. He was sleep walking.

[anneasquith]

as usual this is a very emotive subject on AB, i do believe we may never really know what happened that night.

[Ann]

Bless them, I live fairly near to them in Leicestershire and it is our constant prayer that one day they will be reunited with Madeline.

[joko]

if it were me i would milk the press for every last drop of usefulness i could... over and over and over...
and i wouldnt give a flying fook whether people felt sorry for me or not...wou;d not give it a moments concern.... pity doesnt find the child, pity doesnt help, pity would change nothing for, me so why would they give a hoot what you think?

i agree that its a bit odd of them to moan about the very thing that has helped their campaign become so public, but that said they have also been very cruel and helped to create negative opinions, doubts and accusations, which in turn potentially lessens the affect and power their campaign has.

... your response being yet another one they have helped create.

[flip_flop]

The McCanns are not to blame for the loss of their child - the person who took her is to blame.

I suspect they are beating themselves up everyday of their lives for having a drink a couple of hundred feet away from their apartment in an apparently secure complex.

I know I would be.

When I am down the bottom of my garden and my kids are in the house, which is a regular occurrence, I am further away than the McCanns were from their kids. I know its not comparing like with like, but if somebody chose to enter the house I would know nothing about it.

It is tragic set of circumstances, and it gets on my tits that people almost appear to gloat over their loss.

[NoMercy]

I couldn't agree with you more, Flip.

If you leave a window open and your house gets burgled, is it your fault? No, it's the fault of the pondlife who burgles your house!

The McCanns did not neglect their children, if anything they were trying not to upset their routine. They could actually see most of the front of their apartment from where they were dining, save for a few trees.

There does appear to be a lot of gloating from some, and I'm sure that has nothing to do with the middleclass status of Madeleine's parents. Ahem.

[notasyoungasiwas]

I will always, ALWAYS feel sorry for the McCanns.

[Purple_Popple]

Can someone explain to me then why they spent donated money for the 'Find Madeleine Fund' to pay their mortgage arrears.

[anneasquith]

^^^^ is that true ?